What's wrong with my car?!

[jleet]

My car isn't starting. When I try to start the car, the meters flicker and I hear a clicking sound, but nothing happens.
I just changed the battery about 2 months ago.

Prior to my car completely being unable to start (for 2 weeks or so) it would lose all power for a couple seconds after turning the engine off from a drive. (I couldn't even lock my car for that time) then it would regain power. Does this make any sense?

Any ideas/suggestions? Could the alternator be broken? Should I get it towed to an auto shop so they can find out the problem before trying to jump start it? Thanks for any inputs!

[Irvxing]

check the connections on the battery first. if you jump it does it start? also, did you change the battery for this reason prior?

[jleet]

I just jumped it and it starts. It seems like its out of battery though, it does a weak beep when i press the lock on my remote compared to a strong beep from before. I have no idea what this means, but I'm guessing the alternator is broken, or could it have been a faulty battery? Other reasons?

I don't think this was the same reason as the last time I changed the battery. Last time I think my stock battery just died, it had been about 3 years already.

[Irvxing]

might be the battery. have whoever sold you the battery check it out (if it was bought from a autozone or o'reilyl theyll replace it.) check the voltage sould be 14v. How does the car idle? when you start the car does it die? lights dim? if its the alternator the car should struggle to stay on

[jleet]

When I jumped it, everything seemed fine. I left it idle for a couple minutes and it was still running, I didnt turn on my headlights to check or anything. So hopefully it could just be the battery then (dont have a voltage meter at the moment) ? Shouldn't the car struggle to stay on too if its a battery problem? I got it from costco.. so hopefully they will replace it if that is the cause.

But do you know what could be reason for the car to lose power randomly for a couple seconds after turning off the engine, and then regaining power?

[Irvxing]

hmm. not usually, once the car is on and it struggles its usually the alternato,r not the battery. Not sure what could cause power loss after car is off. Only the battery. Hopefully they replace it for ya, and that fixes the issue

[AlexN09]

If your battery was really dead and your alternator was fine then your car would run once jumped. When you turned the car off, the alternator would stop and there would be a sudden drop in voltage which could cause everything to die. A few seconds later the small charge in the battery would be enough to power some systems. This is just my theory but it makes sense to me.

[Ranga14]

What kind of battery did you get? It might not be powerful enough.

[jleet]

If your battery was really dead and your alternator was fine then your car would run once jumped. When you turned the car off, the alternator would stop and there would be a sudden drop in voltage which could cause everything to die. A few seconds later the small charge in the battery would be enough to power some systems. This is just my theory but it makes sense to me.

That makes perfect sense! thanks guys. I looked at it this morning and it turns out the positive terminal connecting to the battery was loose Everything is fine now!

[AlexN09]

Awesome! very glad to hear it was a simple fix. Congratulations

[Irvxing]

lol told ya check connections